Comparison of sputum induction using inhaled methacholine or hypertonic saline.

Objectives: Hypertonic saline is recommended for the induction of sputum to assess airway inflammation. Methacholine is most commonly used to assess airway responsiveness. The aim of this study was to compare sputum induction by methacholine and hypertonic saline challenges, and the subsequent inflammatory cell differential counts.

Decline in lung function in the Busselton Health Study: the effects of asthma and cigarette smoking.

Asthma in adults may be associated with chronic airflow obstruction, possibly resulting from airway disease in early life and/or a greater rate of decline in lung function in adult life compared with those with asthma. Treatment and cigarette smoking may also influence the rate of decline of lung function. The aim of this analysis was to examine the level and rate of decline in lung function in relationship to asthma and cigarette smoking in adults.

The relationship of reticular basement membrane thickness to airway wall remodeling in asthma.

Assessment of airway wall remodeling in asthma is difficult in vivo. The thickness of deposited extracellular matrix proteins below the epithelium, the reticular basement membrane, can be assessed by bronchial biopsy of proximal airways. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between the thickness of the reticular basement membrane in a sample equivalent to a central airway biopsy and the dimensions of the airway wall measured on transverse sections of both central and peripheral airways.